11 migrants dead, 64 missing as two ships sink off Italy’s coast
Ten suspected migrants were found dead after a ship capsized off the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, while another vessel caught fire and capsized off Calabria. One migrant later died and 64 others are still missing at sea after the separate incidents.
Sixty-four people remained missing at sea after a ship capsized off Italy’s southern coast on Monday, while 11 were rescued and taken to a Calabrian city, UN agencies said in a statement.
In another shipwreck, rescuers found 10 bodies of suspected migrants trapped below the deck of a wooden boat off the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, German aid group Rescueship wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
In the first shipwreck, which occurred about 200 kilometres off Calabria, a boat that left Turkey eight days ago caught fire and capsized, UN agencies quoted survivors as saying.
The Italian coast guard said in a statement that the search and rescue operation began after a mayday call by a French boat. The boat was sailing in the border area where Greece and Italy conduct search and rescue operations. UN agencies said the survivors and those still missing at sea came from Iran, Syria and Iraq.
The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre immediately diverted two merchant ships sailing nearby to the rescue site. The help of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex was also called in.
The survivors were brought to the Calabrian port of Rosella Jonica, where they were disembarked and handed over to the care of medical personnel. The coast guard said one of the migrants died shortly afterwards.
In the second shipwreck, the crew of Rescueship’s boat, Nadir, found 61 people on a wooden boat, which was filling with water.
“Our team succeeded in rescuing 51 people, of whom two were unconscious. 10 deceased were on the lower deck of the boat which was flooded,” it said.
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